This invention relates to heat exchangers, and, more particularly, to tubular heat exchangers having external fins thereon for defining passageways extending transversely thereacross.
It is a primary object of the present invention to enable a novel heat exchanger to be afforded in a novel and expeditious manner.
Another important object of the present invention is to afford a novel, externally-finned, tubular heat exchanger.
A further object of the present invention is to afford a novel tubular heat exchanger having external fins projecting outwardly from diametrically opposed sides thereof.
Tubular heat exchangers having external fins, and even tubular heat exchangers having fins projecting outwardly from diametrically opposed sides thereof, have been heretofore known in the art, being shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,202,212, issued to R. W. Kritzer on Aug. 24, 1965; 3,229,722, issued to R. W. Kritzer on Jan. 18, 1966; 3,692,105, issued to J. M. O'Connor on Sept. 19, 1972; 3,746,086, issued to me on July 17, 1973; and 3,877,517, issued to me on Apr. 15, 1975. Heat exchangers of the types disclosed in the aforementioned patents have proven to be very effective. However, it is an object of the present invention to afford improvements over heat exchangers of the type disclosed in the aforementioned patents.
Another object of the present invention is to afford a novel, externally-finned, tubular heat exchanger wherein the parts thereof are constituted and arranged in a novel and expeditious manner.
An object ancillary to the foregoing is to afford a novel heat exchanger of the aforementioned type wherein turbulence is imparted in a novel and expeditious manner to working fluid passing through the interior of the tubular member.
Another ancillary object is to afford a novel heat exchanger of the aforementioned type wherein turbulence is imparted, in a novel and expeditious manner, to air or other working fluid flowing across the exterior of the tubular member, between the fins thereon, transversely to the length of the tubular member.
Another object of the present invention is to enable the heat transfer between working fluid passing longitudinally through an elongated heat exchanger and working fluid passing transversely across the exterior of the heat exchanger to be increased in a novel and expeditious manner.
Another object of the present invention is to afford a novel externally-finned, elongated, tubular heat exchanger wherein the interior of the tubular portion is undulating, in a novel and expeditious manner, longitudinally thereof to afford a turbulent passage of working fluid longitudinally therethrough, with the fluid being directed first in one direction and then in the opposite direction into wiping or scrubbing contact with respective opposite, internal sidewall portions of the tubular member.
Yet another object of the present invention is to afford a novel, externally-finned, elongated, tubular heat exchanger wherein the external fins extend across the tubular member in a direction transversely to the length of the latter, with adjacent pairs of fins defining passageways for the flow of air transversely across the heat exchanger, and with adjacent passageways being disposed at different angles relative to each other and to the length of the tubular member.
A further object of the present invention is to enable a novel tubular member, embodying a passageway for working fluid extending longitudinally therethrough, and embodying external fins on the exterior thereof, to be afforded in a novel and expeditious manner, with the interior passageway undulating in a novel and expeditious manner, or with the external fins being disposed in a novel and expeditious manner relative to each other, or with both the novel passageway construction and the novel fin disposition.
Another object of the present invention is to afford a novel, externally, finned, elongated tubular heat exchanger, wherein the fins thereof project outwardly from two, substantially diametrically opposite sides of the tubular member, and wherein both the tubular member and the fins thereon, along the lengths of the tubular member, undulate back and forth in one direction and then in the opposite direction transverse to the length of the tubular member and transverse to the direction that the fins on opposite sides of the tubular member project outwardly from the latter.
A further object of the present invention is to afford a novel heat exchanger of the last mentioned type, wherein the fins at opposite sides of the center portions of individual ones of the aforementioned undulations are disposed at progressively changing angles, transversely to the length of the tubular member.
Another object of the present invention is to enable a novel tubular heat exchanger, embodying a substantially straight portion having external fins thereon defining adjacent passageways which are disposed at progressively different angles to each other and to the length of the substantially straight portion, to be afforded in a novel and expeditious manner.
Another object of the present invention is to afford a novel externally-finned, tubular heat exchanger having the aforementioned undulations therealong, wherein the interior of the tubular member is divided into a plurality of passageways for the passage of working fluid longitudinally through the tubular member.
An object ancillary to the foregoing is to afford a novel tubular heat exchanger, of the aforementioned type, wherein the passageways are displaced from each other in the same direction as the tubular member undulates.
A further ancillary object is to afford a novel heat exchanger of the aforementioned type, wherein the passageways at the convex side of each such undulation are of greater cross-sectional size than that of the passageways at the concave side of said undulation.
A further object of the present invention is to afford a novel method of making a novel heat exchanger.
Another object of the present invention is to afford a novel externally-finned heat exchanger which is practical and efficient in operation and which may be readily and economically produced commercially.
Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, show preferred embodiments of the present invention and the principles thereof and what I now consider to be the best mode in which I have contemplated applying these principles. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims.